To Be on Guard
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of learned men, who, as were the Pharisees, are teachers of the law
of God, but do not obey the law themselves. There will be human
ignorance and folly to meet in disconnected theories arrayed in new
and fantastic dress—theories that it will be all the more difficult to
meet because there is no reason in them.
There will be false dreams and false visions, which have some
truth, but lead away from the original faith. The Lord has given men
a rule by which to detect them: “To the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light
in them” (
Isaiah 8:20
). If they belittle the law of God, if they pay no
heed to His will as revealed in the testimonies of His Spirit, they are
deceivers. They are controlled by impulse and impressions, which
they believe to be from the Holy Spirit, and consider more reliable
than the Inspired Word. They claim that every thought and feeling is
an impression of the Spirit; and when they are reasoned with out of
the Scriptures, they declare that they have something more reliable.
But while they think that they are led by the Spirit of God, they are in
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reality following an imagination wrought upon by Satan.—
The Bible
Echo, September, 1886
.
Tested “By their Fruits”
In these days of peril we are not to accept everything that men
bring to us as truth. As professed teachers from God come to us
declaring that they have a message from God, it is proper to inquire
carefully, How do we know that this is truth? Jesus has told us that
“false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (
Matthew 24:11
).
But we need not be deceived; for the Word of God gives us a test
whereby we may know what is truth. The prophet says, “To the law
and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is
because there is no light in them” (
Isaiah 8:20
).
From this statement it is evident that it becomes us to be diligent
Bible students, that we may know what is according to the law and
the testimony. We are safe in no other course of action. Jesus says,
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good
tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil